Northland drug and addiction services frustrated by the easy availability of meth pipes are calling on retailers to pull drug utensils from their shelves - and for police and health authorities to enforce the law.
RNZ's visits to vape stores, $2 shops and dairies in Northland suggest it's likely hundreds, possibly thousands, of shops around the country sell glass pipes for smoking the country's most pernicious and addictive drug.
That finding comes just days after dozens of alleged meth cooks and dealers were arrested in major police busts across Northland and Auckland .
Rhonda Zielinski, kaiwhakahaere (chief executive) of Whakaoranga Whānau Recovery Hub in Kaikohe, described the situation as "absolutely ludicrous".
Rhonda Zielinski, kaiwhakahaere (chief executive) of Whakaoranga Whānau Recovery Hub.
RNZ / Peter de Graaf
"I think the government should be able to stop the sale of those items. I mean, they're drug paraphernalia," she said.
The recovery hub provided a much-needed residential programme for ex-addicts trying to rebuild their lives.
Zielinski said if any of her clients had a meth pipe they would be sent packing immediately - and police could charge anyone they found on the street with a P pipe in their pocket for being in possession of a drug utensil.
Yet the same pipes were openly for sale on the town's main street.
"It just seems insane to me, particularly when there's been so much attention on Kaikohe about being the meth capital of the world, and we've got our police doing the best that they can with the recent busts, but you can buy all the paraphernalia you require from a $2 shop, a dairy, or even Temu," she said.
To find out how easy to is to buy meth pipes, RNZ went shopping in two Northland towns.
Glass meth pipes like this are readily available in vape stores, $2 shops, and even some dairies.
RNZ / Peter de Graaf
In Kaikohe, one out of three vape stores, two out of three $2 shops, and one in two dairies visited sold glass pipes for smoking meth, ranging in price from $14 to $25.
In some cases the pipes were displayed openly on the counter, sometimes alongside children's novelty items.
In Kerikeri, not a town usually associated with meth use, the pipes were even easier to find.
All three $2 shops, a vape store and a combined dairy/vape shop sold glass meth pipes, with prices starting from $11.
When we asked what the pipes were for, most shop assistants said they didn't know.
Only one said the pipes were for smoking powder, as opposed to the even more ubiquitous cannabis pipes.
Tia Ashby, tumu whakarae (chief executive) of health provider Te Hau Ora o Ngāpuhi, said shop owners had given her all sorts of bizarre explanations as to what the pipes were for.
Tia Ashby, tumu whakarae (chief executive) of health provider Te Hau Ora o Ngāpuhi.
RNZ / Peter de Graaf
"I've been told that it's a mini glass ornament. I've been told it can be used as a herbal utensil. I've also been told it's a mini vase for one flower. It's ridiculous. It's complete BS."
Ashby, whose organisation supports many Far North whānau harmed by addiction, said shops openly selling meth pipes normalised drug use.
"They may be labelled as glassware, ornaments or tobacco accessories, but we need to be honest about what many of these items are being used for," she said.
"It's even more concerning when these products are sold in everyday places like novelty stores. Sometimes you find them beside toys, children's jewellery or water balloons."
Ashby said police, public health officials and councils needed to enforce laws that already existed around drug utensils - and if there were loopholes, Parliament needed to act to close them.
She said it was not about attacking small businesses.
"But retailers should not profit from items that cause serious harm to the community. They should educate themselves if they're not aware of what some drug utensils are really for, and they should have accountability and be honest if they do know what they are, but still choose to sell them anyway."
Ashby said education was part of the answer, with some Kaikohe retailers halting the sale of glass pipes, or at least hiding them from view, after she spoke to them about the harm caused by meth addiction.
Community pressure had also been effective in nearby Kawakawa.
Customs says it regularly seizes meth pipes like these at the border, but importers often give false descriptions to avoid detection.
Supplied / Customs
There, Wiremu Keretene and his late wife Erana Paraone mounted a public campaign that, with the help of a viral YouTube video, persuaded a novelty shop to pull the pipes from its shelves.
Keretene said the pipes were on display in cabinets where any child could see them.
"It was about taking that away, out of sight, out of mind, especially for tamariki (children). Also, the selling of these things was not helping to deter use of the drug."
Ashby said her staff dealt every day with the harm caused by meth, and with "children living in…
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